Speaker of the House John Boehner’s frequent press conferences on the Hill are punchy, quick and usually dramatic enough to provide raw material for reporters.
In contrast, the White House’s press conferences are repetitive and verbose, and are often intended to smother unwelcome drama with a pillow of vague talking points.
Carney’s near-daily press events last longer that Boehner’s events, but Carney uses up much of the time repetitively pushing the administration’s poll-tested talking points, even when a reporter’s question is on a different topic.
On Dec. 12, Carney answered 24 questions in 58 minutes, offering an average of 245 words per answer, many of which were long-winded, repetitive and unclear. (RELATED VIDEO: Carney takes the podium after White House endorses Syrian rebels; rebels endorse al-Qaida group)
On Dec. 13, Boehner answered 13 questions in his 10-minute press conference, with an average of 35 words per answer. Three answers consisted of four or five words: “There is no such list. … I do oppose the idea. … I have no idea.”
On Wednesday, Carney’s first questioner asked whether a fiscal-cliff deal is possible by Christmas. He provided a brief response — “I can’t speculate about the time-frame” — but then added 219 words, repeating the administration’s budget-focused talking points.
On Dec. 13, ABC’s White House chief, Jake Tapper, sat in the front row and tweeted a haiku mocking Carney’s repetitive answers on the pending January 2013 financial crisis.
“Parameters/of an agreement are clear”/again and again,” he wrote.
But Carney and his team are ahead on points.
Fifty-five percent of Americans believe President Barack Obama “is making a serious effort to work with Republicans,” according to an early December poll by the Pew Research Center, released Dec. 13. Only 32 percent of Americans believe the GOP is serious about working with Obama, Pew declared.
Carney counters troublesome questions with his own version of boxing’s rope-a-dope strategy, smothering dramatic news by regurgitating long statements that are vague enough to make them unusable.
On Dec. 12, Carney was asked by The Daily Caller to justify his statement to the New York Times that administration officials “firmly believe” the main Syrian rebel groups want to establish democracy once the country’s dictator is removed.
In response, Carney simply repeated the “firmly believe” statement twice more.
Alternatively, when a reporter pushes for information, Carney changes the subject by calling on a reporter likely to ask a very different question.
For example, on several occasions, Carney has invited a question from Chris Johnson, the politics reporter for the Blade newspapers, whose most common questions are about gay advocates’ efforts to shift the legal purpose of marriage from child-rearing to the validation of adults’ personal relationships.
Once a question is asked, Carney typically reads his prepared statement on the expected question, breaking the focus of reporters.
Carney and his White House colleagues, unlike Boehner, can also easily stage events that redirect the media’s attention.
In late November, for example, they let U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice visit senators on the Hill, setting off a furor over her deceptive Sept. 16 statements about the Sept. 11, 2012 jihadi attack in Benghazi.
Deliberate or not, her trip to the Hill completely distracted the media’s attention from the collapse of Obama’s Egypt policy, which was highlighted Nov. 22, when Egypt’s elected Islamist president gave himself absolute power. (RELATED: Rice distracts media from deeper Benghazi issues)
Sometimes, Carney will try to turn up the snark when reporters press difficult questions.
That’s an unimportant concern to reporters who don’t expect to get planned leaks from White House officials. But it can be tough for reporters who are worried their rivals will get valuable scoops.
Most of the time, they’re as well-behaved as grade-school kids on parents’ visiting day.
Carney rarely gets questions lobbed at him without his say-so.
There’s plenty of grumbling among White House reporters that Carney ignores reporters who aren’t affiliated with the four major TV networks, establishment newspapers or big news-wires.
Fox News’ correspondent, Ed Henry, highlighted the discontent early December, when he asked Carney mid-conference to accept questions from the back of the class. Henry is the elected president of the White House Correspondents Association.
Some media people do complain in public about getting ignored or punished.
In November, Fox News host Greta Van Susteren pushed back, saying “since Fox has aggressively asked the Administration for answers to the Benghazi 4 murders [on Sept. 11], Fox has twice been excluded from major media briefings.”
“Two out of two! Accident? Coincidence? … I wasn’t born yesterday. The Obama administration is trying to send Fox a message – back off!” she wrote Nov. 5 on her website, dubbed Gretawire. (RELATED VIDEO: Greta van Susteren, Sarah Palin rip media for reluctance to dig deeper on Benghazi)
Boehner, however, remains laconic when faced with hostile questions.
“Why are you holding out for a tax cut for the wealthy that most Americans, even many wealthy people, say we shouldn’t have?” one reporter asked Dec. 13.
Boehner replied with 52 words, saying “raising tax rates will businesses at a time when we are expecting small businesses to be the engine of job creation in America. Ernst & Young has made it clear if we were to do what the President is asking for, some 700,000 jobs would be at risk. It’s as simple as that.”
In recent weeks, Boehner has tightened up his conferences, and now only takes questions that he invites with a look or a nod. Reporters who shout out questions don’t get the nod.
Boehner is also adding graphics and some back-up speakers. On Dec. 12, Boehner’s turn on the stage was followed by several deputies, including Reps. Marsha Blackburn, Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Eric Cantor, the House majority leader.
Carney occasionally is accompanied by White House officials. On Dec. 5., Carney’s brought in Jason Furman, the deputy director of the National Economic Council, to slam the GOP’s tax-related proposals.
And he has also learned to push his talking points.
“The president still isn’t serious … most Americans would agree that spending is a much bigger problem than raising taxes. … The new stimulus spending they want almost outstrips all of the spending cuts that they’ve that they’ve outlined,” he declared.
When pushing his budget cutting plans, Carney tries to use more diplomatic terms than “spending cuts.”
“They want us to deal with this in a responsible way,” Boehner said Dec. 13, pointing to a chart showing a tsunami of upcoming debt-funded spending.
But Carney is far more disciplined with his language.
On Dec. 12, he used the term “wealthiest” 15 times to disparage the GOP’s tax plans.
“The president has made clear he will not support legislation that hands another tax cut to the wealthiest 2 percent of American earners … a further additional tax cut for the wealthiest Americans is just not plausible economic policy … he is not going to accept a deal that extends tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans,” he said.
Despite all the post-election talk about the pending fiscal cliff, Carney rarely describes the level of spending sought in the president’s 10-year spending plan.
The deficit-spending number he doesn’t say is up near $9 trillion, which would give the nation a $25 trillion debt in 2025, according to the Republican staff of the Senate budget committee.
